These bronze cauldrons, known as fu in Chinese, are typical of the cooking vessels associated with the nomadic people of the steppes. Their history extends from the early first millennium B.C. to the first few centuries of our era, and they were distributed over much of the Eurasian continent—from the shores of the Black Sea to China's northern frontier. Examples with a pierced ring foot appear to date later than those with a solid ring foot, mostly from the third century B.C. or thereafter.